Ok so A-game and I started a redo of our GC to include random weather and learn from each others mistakes. So far this game has been far better and much more of a nail biter. Overall A-game has been more prone to withdrawing and not fighting forward while I have been more competent with my panzer thrusts. I'm starting the AAR on T20 which I just finished. I figured everyone has seen enough of the Lvov opening to last a lifetime (yes I used the extended Lvov opening) so I waited a bit to start this AAR. I plan on doing step by step coverage of the Blizzard which people seem to ask for.

North Front: As I said A-game has been flighty everywhere except the approaches to Leningrad. The Northward drive has sucked almost all of our resources to the Leningrad axis and it has been an absolute bar fight. All reinforcements except the Security division and 60th motor have went North. A-game has responded by stripping the Center and Southern Fronts and creating belts of lines in front of the Neva. I used 1 HQBU here but it had little impact. A-game has played a near flawless defense of the North. However, with that being said, I've came to the conclusion that Leningrad cannot be held if the axis want it bad enough. I've even had a mud turn in the North and I've still recovered.

I have relied on 3-4 deliberate attacks a turn to ensure no holds. Every fight I use 3 to 1 odds minimum to ensure victory and force routs and thus keep morale low. On very difficult hexes I have a Corps designed for soak off attacks (Sorry L Corps) these troops tough it out WW1 style to weaken the defenders while the other 3 Corps of 18. Army do the men's work. The entire AGN went North of Novgorod to ensure maximum schwerpunkt on Leningrad.

But first..the Finns:

The Finns took advantage of an early mishap by A-game and launched a cunning opening which trapped 6 rifle divisions near Lake Janis.. Since then they managed to break the Finnish bottleneck over lvl 3 fort heavy woods and push into East Karelia. The drive was stopped due to the late season...rail and the imminent success of AGN. In hindset I regret throwing the Finns against the bottleneck. The losses weren't worth the breakthrough. Here's a screenie:

For a little bit I was worried that AGN would fail and Leningrad would hold. My pace was slow and every battle only revealed another line of dug in Russian defenders. Not to mention that on T3 he threw my 8th panzer back across the river near Pskov and somewhere near T10 he got a mud turn to recover. However my next post will show where I turned the tides. Since T12 all of AGN has been North of Novgorod. This led to a exposed flank near VL where A-game exploited ruthlessly. Unfortunately for him the 41 Russian army cannot exploit a deep strategic thrust against Germany. Overall A-game has probably lost 25-30 divisions trying to sever AGN/AGC. Pictures next post.

Here we see what a solid defense of Leningrad provided: Its T20 and I am just now across the Neva. As I said though I have totally written off Moscow since T1. In fact the space in front of Moscow is a joke. I'm only 7 hexes away but both of us only maintain screening forces here. Group North is awaiting Snow to seize the port then finish off the pocket.

Notice the favorable turn of weather in my favor??? Working West to East weather was: Mud, Snow, Snow, Blizzard...feck its only October and there's blizzard.

The Center Front's main goal was to create a buffer. As you can see were fairly close to Moscow but the front really doesn't move. I make sure to launch as many deliberate attacks as possible to create as much death and chaos before Blizzard. He still holds Kaluga and Kalinin and Tula. I think Tula will fall though. Voronez has fallen and our drive is doing well. A fall back position 8-10 hexes behind the front has been underway since first mud turn. I only plan on railing out 1 Corps of premier infantry and one Corps of mech. The rest will stay (hopefully sheltered) and hold the line. Most of the LW airbases are being sent home and the NAtional Reserve is getting full.

Initially I planned on all of 2. PZ assisting on the drive to Rostov but I have broken them apart once mud started. I am kind of disappointing actually as they have become useless in the last couple turns. Right now 1 Corps is helping build a fort line while a few divs were sent home and some were sent to join III Pz Corps in the South.

A-game has mostly ran this game in the South so I've tried my best to follow suit. My Achilles heel has been rail lines. I ran the wrong route and a Partisan attack severed my line once. Most of my CV/MP for the mech was garbage during late summer. This is primarily why I cancelled sending 2. Pz to the South. Overall though the drive is going great. My blessing of snow during mud season allowed me to seize the swamp terrain west of Rostov and position units to cross the Don East and West of Rostov. I prefer to encircle it if possible. Vorishlogrod is mine.

I also decided to go for the Crimea this time around too. I don't plan on taking Sevastopol as it would cause too many deaths but I wanted to rip up the rail lines and create a buffer while the Romanians built a winter line.

Here we see the culmination of AGN during Barbarossa. One hell of a defense by A-game bought Leningrad tons of time and almost saved her. I could have attacked Leningrad proper before blizzard but it would have been risky. Instead I have decided to starve the city throughout the blizzard. I. Corps camps in the local cities along with a few mech divisions.

The Finns have taken over the defense on the Volkhov allowing 16. Army to shift South and strengthen 9. Army's left flank. With a level 3 fort line on the Volkhov, AGN's front shouldn't change.

I'm really not sure how bad blizzard is going to be. Here is where I am weakest...the junction between AGN/AGC. 9. Army has some prepared defenses and good terrain but blizzard just started and I really don't want to retreat. I will give the customary hexes in December but come January I plan on fighting. The Red is the last of my buffer space.

Here is where I am the most confident (and blessed with the most Mtn units). By taking the Crimea and driving to Rostov I have created a healthy buffer and have an abundance of forces. I do not plan on surrendering the Tri-City region of Stalino. I WILL fight to the death here.

T25 casualties were 70k.

While there are many things about this game that could be changed I really wished fighting through the blizzard was an option. The German Heer wasn't utterly paralyzed by blizzard, they were paralyzed by supply and over extension problems. Oh well...maybe in WITE2.

Okay. Sorry for the delay but work and family keep AAR time limited. Its the beginning of T29 and the worst of the Blizzard is over. I must admit that given all the hype the Blizzard has not been the Divine wind that I feared. (This is my first MP blizzard)Part of this I have to admit is that I really think A-game is not being aggressive enough. He's being ultra-conservative and trying to build guards. Not a single attack in the North. This suits me fine. When L-G fell (Turn 27 btw) It freed all of 16. Army to head South where they were desperately needed. The Finns really are necessary to hold the North during Winter.

This was one of my weak spots. Most of 16. Army was still needed in the North to finish off Leningrad when Blizzard started. This forced 9. Army to hold way too long of a front. Although 3.Pz Group sent some help, A-game has been my greatest ally by only attacking when he had overwhelming odds. Now that January is here, 16. Army has arrived in force, and I'm dug into the swamps....I'm not going anywhere.

Here was another trouble spot. Being that the drive towards Moscow largely stopped in July, the only distance really gained was the ground A-game let me have. I'm terribly weak here and have almost ran out of fall back ground. Im strechted thin but all arriving reinforcements are coming this way including 1 of my Mtn Divisions from 17. Army.

Smolensk will not fall but this has made any attempt on Moscow next season very difficult. Im just glad I've yet to experience heavy losses.

The most devastated Front. An admission of noobness here. I didn't realize that the Dec 4 turn was Blizzard. I thought it was the next turn. I had all of 4. Army and 2. Army holding the line against A-game. Luckily, I do mean that word, A-game has failed to capitalize on my error. The 112th Infantry Division was finally destroyed last turn after its fight Westward..this has been my first division lost. The other unit (pictured) is a regiment and is surely lost too.

Otherwise this front should hold. The mian question is what to do about Orel. Should I hold it or retreat. Its January so my CV's are up but he has a lot of firepower aimed at encircling Orel. This is where I will likely hold the line and commit my valuable SS and Panzer reserves. While I wont demand Orel held at all costs I'm not going to surrender it easily.

The South has performed the best due to abundance of Mtn units and concentration of force. Unfortunately I was unable to take Rostov or activate AGB during the Summer campaign but otherwise the Southern Front is holding well. The poor Romanians are freezing their asses off but Stalino, Kharkov, and Kursk will all hold....

I also have 250k men in the bank along with 185k Hiwis. Does this seem high? I'm not complaining but I have a lot of forces in reserve in seems.

Stuplenagel and Von Leeb were both relieved as well. Paulus has taken command of the 17. Army while the glorious AI decided that Manstein should run AGN Can't wait to waste AP's changing that one. Again, depending on how the fight for Orel goes this has been a mild blizzard it seems. Ill post a full review at the end of January.

-So Blizzard is almost over and I think it has went relatively well. I lost a total of 1 division and one regiment (as of yet) and I've averaged about 70k losses a turn so far. The Northern and Southern Fronts have held firm while the Center from Smolensk to Kursk has caved inward between 15-20 hexes. I originally planned on holding Orel but it was a lost cause. I just abandoned Bryansk and Smolensk is almost 50% encircled. The other main area of interest is the ongoing battle to save 2. Army. His cavalry have been hammering the flanks and only the commitment of the 4th Mtn and the XXIV Panzer Korps have kept it alive. My Hungarian Mtn brigade and the 2. Army has been hammered below 50% TOE. February will be most welcome. Oh and the Crimea is sealed at the narrows.

-I'm still at 3 million men with 2.7 million fielded. I have about 475k men in the bank with 200k armaments. All my reserve divisions that were wintering have been moved closer to the front..many of them committed.

So Blizzard is over. Finally a period to rest and refit the Wehrmacht to finish off A-game and add my first mp victory to the belt. This is my first blizzard so I don't know really what to expect but it does seem that I got off relatively easy. A-game passed up a lot of attacks and didn't seem very well coordinated. One mistake I believe he made was combining his cavalry divisions into Corps. More power but cavalry aren't for muscle IMO but to slip past flanks. Anyways, I'm not complaining. Total losses to date:

Not sure if going for Moscow is an option. Its a long way to go and he surely has endless waves of reserves and forts waiting to bleed me out. Do I go for manpower centers or do I just try to destroy units? Not sure yet.

So a quick update is in order. Not too much to report. A few strategies:

-I've been massing my divisions to attack in overwhelming odds from February to date. I've used as many as 9 division to attack a lone division. This is to quickly increase morale of many of my depleted units. Most of my infantry have morale in the high 60's- low 70's.

-Since late March A-game has been backing up a hex or two to avoid such battles. While it makes sense for him to avoid encirclement its still muddy as hell and he is giving me plenty of awesome terrain before my offensives start. No complaints here.

-My mech armies are appx 10 hexes behind the front sitting on rail for the duration of mud. I still haven't decided on the exact attack spots. This will be my last turn before I need to commit to an attack place and time. I'm honestly not sure where best to strike. Should I go for Moscow or commit a historical Case Blue?

The Fuhrer is pleased to announce the pinning of swords on General der Infantrie Maxmillian Von Weichs's Knights Cross of the Iron Cross. The General has recovered his great honor after being dismissed following 2. Armies thrashing in the previous blizzard. Against the Fuhrer's best judgement, Weichs was assigned command of the 11. Army for the coming Crimean Offensive. Weichs and his men delivered the Fuhrer, and the people of Germany, a much needed victory.

One of several smaller offensives had been planned to start off summer 42 in order to build morale and weaken the Red Army. For this post I will only post the Crimean campaign. (The rest is all mud anyway).

I had slowly been building up the 11. Army for this offensive: 3 Infantry Corps, XIV Panzer Corps borrowed from 1. Pz Army, and an adhoc Mtn Corps with the 1st and the newly arrived 5th Mtn divisions. Also, the Romanian 4th Army was assigned screening duty and flank protection. The attack started with the Romanians launching several preliminary assaults to breach outer defenses (or soak up the enemies ammo). After the ground lay littered with Romanians the 11. Armies spearhead, headed by the 22nd air landing division with 2 companies of Stug's blasted a hole in the line. The Soviets crumbled. Only 1 of the 11. Army's Corp was needed to open a corridor. Recon showed minimal reserves.

My first goal was to swing round and sever the bulk of the Coastal army from supply. The 14th Panzer did this with ease. My final motor division was assigned the job of grabbing as much territory near Sevastopol as possible. To my great surprise and delight, A-game had left Sevastopol completely empty. My motor troops took the city without a drop of blood loss. This was a monumental victory for the Reich. Haul includes 11 Infantry divisions and a separate tank brigade. Total axis losses around5-6k. Total German losses under a 1k.

Here was the opening (and likely the crown) operation of Summer 42. 3 Rifle Armies and 3 over strength Panzer Groups took part in ripping a hole in the Soviet Center.

I had planned this operation for several months aiming to hit him and work on the paths with the most clear hexes to link up. My formula isn't too difficult. I'd rested the bulk of my reserves behind the lines and kept plenty of low morale (tramplers) to absorb the worst of the assault. Getting past the initial lvl 3 fort belts was the toughest as here I encountered multiple holds and A-Game had reserve activations 3/4 battles. Once you breakthrough though the 2nd and 3rd lines are never as hard to smash up. Especially with over 20 mech divisions to commit.

This is the only other front of note. I'm actually not too strong here. Im using the 3rd Romanian to screen the entire East flank.....for now. A total of 10 Rifle and 1 Armor division from OKH are on their way. I'm also sending the remains of 11. Army from the Crimea and possibly a panzer Group from AGC once I figure out what is going to happen with the Center Front. I initially thought Moscow was unachievable, but it may be depending on how A-game reacts to this. From here I'm just trying to take Rostov and the 3 towns needed for AGA.

Good job. A Game is paying price for a lacklustre blizzard. I thought he could have used his massed cavalry to herd you into some pockets and you did well to avoid that. You have to try for Moscow now, and you must be in with a reasonable chance. Even if you don't succeed, this pocket should provide opportunities for other pockets.

_____________________________

web exchange

Post: I am always fearful that when I put this game down on the table and people see the box-art they will think I am some kind of neo-Nazi

Reply: They already know you're a gamer. What other shame can possibly compare?